Systems and methods for logging temperatures of food products

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for logging temperatures of food products using a temperature assembly including a housing and one or more temperature sensors, e.g., an infrared sensor for surface temperatures and an elongate probe for acquiring a temperature within a food product, and a mobile electronic device including a camera, a communication interface for communicating with the temperature assembly, a processor configured to acquire a temperature reading from the temperature assembly and an image from the camera when the temperature reading is acquired, and memory for storing the temperature reading and image.

I claim: 
     
       1. A method for logging temperatures of food products at a physical location, comprising:
 providing a mobile electronic device including a camera and carrying a temperature assembly including a mount carrying an elongate temperature probe; 
 directing the mount from an inactive position to an active position where a tip of the probe lies within a field of the view of the camera; 
 inserting the tip of the temperature probe into a food product in a container; and 
 activating the mobile electronic device to acquire a temperature of the food product using the temperature probe and substantially simultaneously acquiring an image of the food product using the camera. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tip of the probe is outside the field of view of the camera in the inactive position. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the temperature assembly further comprises an infrared sensor, the method further comprising:
 directing the mount to the inactive position, thereby deactivating the temperature probe and activating the infrared sensor; 
 orienting the infrared sensor towards a container including a second food product; and 
 acquiring a temperature of the second food product with the infrared sensor and an image of the food product with the camera. 
 
     
     
       4. A method for acquiring temperature data of food products, comprising:
 providing a mobile electronic device and a temperature assembly including a temperature probe coupled to the mobile electronic device; 
 directing the temperature probe towards a container including a food product, whereupon the food product is automatically identified on a display of the mobile electronic device; and 
 activating the mobile electronic device to acquire a temperature of the identified food product using the temperature probe and substantially simultaneously acquire an image using a camera of the mobile electronic device of the food product. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein object recognition is used to automatically identify the food product based on the image acquired using the camera and wherein the user is prompted to confirm that the correct food product has been identified before activating the mobile electronic device to acquire the temperature. 
     
     
       6. A method for acquiring temperature data of a remote object, comprising:
 providing a temperature assembly carried by a mobile electronic device such that an infrared sensor of the temperature assembly is aligned with a field of view of a camera of the mobile electronic device; 
 orienting the infrared sensor towards a target object; and 
 acquiring one or more temperature samples to obtain a temperature of the object with the infrared sensor and an image of the object with the camera. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein multiple temperature samples are acquired and wherein the temperature is an average of the temperature samples. 
     
     
       8. A method for acquiring temperature data of food products, comprising:
 providing a temperature assembly carried by a mobile electronic device such that an infrared sensor of the temperature assembly is aligned with a field of view of a camera of the mobile electronic device; 
 orienting the infrared sensor towards a container including a food product; 
 automatically identifying the food product based on images presented on the display; 
 acquiring a temperature of the food product with the infrared sensor and an image of the food product with the camera. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising presenting an identifier presented on the display along with an image of the food product acquired from the camera indicating a direction in which the infrared sensor is oriented such that the user may confirm that the infrared sensor is oriented towards the desired food product.